» Surprise Me:Carrie Underwood pulled out all the stops for her Nashville Blown Away Tour show Sunday (9/23), but it was the one she couldn't make happen that tossed her for a loop.
In a show that features an aerial stage, moving video screens and an onstage tornado (for realz!), it's just not possible to bring Brad Paisley along to perform "Remind Me" every night.
So, like Brad did for his tour, Carrie features her duet partner electronically – she even flips the verses so she can open the tune and Paisley's image can be revealed onscreen later in the song.
Occasionally schedules line up, however, and the two can appear together, as in March when Underwood surprised Brad at a Knoxville show.

Sunday night, Paisley returned the favor, moving Underwood to tears as he strolled onto the Bridgestone Arena stage.
The moment caught Carrie off-guard, as she'd been told Brad's iHeartRadio Music Festival performance in Las Vegas Saturday and subsequent commitments in Los Angeles would keep him from the show.
But an insider tells us that sneaky Brad went out of his way to fly home for the show.
So surprised was Underwood, she missed a few lines of the song while wiping her eyes.
Watch here.

» Chicken Tried:Lots of fun ingredients in the mix at the Zac Brown Band 's Southern Ground Music And Food Festival in Nashville over the weekend, and we're not just talking about the menu.
Guests included Alan Jackson , who joined the band on Friday to perform "As She's Walking Away." Dwight Yoakam took the stage Saturday to sing “Fast As You” with the boys, and got a little help from John Mayer on guitar.
The festival heads back to where it originated, Charleston, SC, Oct.
20 & 21.

» Well Red:Taylor Swift kicked off the week on ABC's Good Morning America with a preview of "Begin Again" and will continue to tease tracks from her upcoming album Red each Monday leading up to the Oct.
22 release.
The new songs become available for purchase exclusively on iTunes after the preview at 12:01 a.m.
ET.
Another promotional effort brings Swift into schools with "Read Every Day" on Oct.
24.
The live classroom webcast will be hosted by MTV News correspondent Sway and will allow Swift to answer questions from students and discuss how literature has inspired her writing.
The chat will be followed by a musical performance.
Teachers can sign up for the event here.

» Rewind Me:Gossip sites are buzzing about Green Day singer Billy Joe Armstrong's meltdown at a Las Vegas music festival over the weekend, but not much is being made of Brad Paisley's similar outburst.
The rocker was upset that his band's time was being cut short, going on an expletive-laden tirade before smashing his guitar and exiting the stage.
Between songs in his set the following night, Paisley shouted, "What?! One minute! Are you kidding me?" The noted jokester then claimed rock anger may not be all it's cracked up to be.
"Don't make me open a can of country whoop-ass."

» Cure Concert:Jason Aldean will hold his seventh annual "Concert For The Cure" on the last night of the My Kinda Party Tour Oct.
27 in Dallas.
Proceeds benefit local affiliates of Susan G.
Komen For The Cure. “This is one of the nights I look forward to most every year,” Aldean says.
“I'm really proud of the money we've raised so far, and it feels great to be able to honor our friend who passed away at such an early age from breast cancer.
Everyone has been affected by this disease at some point, and I want to do my part to help find a cure before my daughters grow up."

» 18 Theme:Lauren Alaina kicked off her eighteen-city "Inch-By-Inch" tour last week in Bloomsburg, PA.
The dates extend through her 18th birthday on Nov.
11 in support of her current single "Eighteen Inches." A portion of the proceeds from the sale of limited edition tour t-shirts will benefit local charities and the Special Olympics.
Tour dates and t-shirts are available here.

Jerrod Niemann will hold an exclusive live performance in a dorm room for the winner of his “Rock Your Room” contest.
The student that wins the gig also receives electronic equipment from Sony.
Details and a video message from Niemann here.

Birthdays

On TV

Friday (9/28): Dwight Yoakam, The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS); Hunter Hayes, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC).

This Week's Album Releases

Jake OwenEndless Summer (EP)

Owen announced this four-song project during his fan club party during CMA Music Festival.
"I really wanted to put out a few new tunes that had a summer vibe," he explains.
"No one ever really wants the summer to end, right? Hopefully, these songs will be ones that keep the party going into the fall."